Effects of Dietary Fiber on the Intestinal Function

Abstract

In this paper, it is summarized that dietary fiber will play the important role in intestinal absorption and mucosal repair. The in vitro and in vivo experiments indicated that absorption of nutrients such as glucose and fatty acids is disturbed by the increased thickness of unstirred water layer as well as adsorption. Recently, dietary fiber is paid attention to the action of prebiotics. Short chain fatty acids are produced by intestinal microflora, which will be utilized as an energy source of intestinal epithelium, and then promote the repair of intestinal mucosa. We clarified that butyrate has antiinflammatory action due to the decrease of NF-KB activation, and dietary fiber as prebiotics is useful to the patients with ulcerative colitis.